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Prime Minister’s Press Secretary AAM Saleh Shibly has described restoring the dignity of citizens and the state as the “greatest achievement” of the government during its first 180 days in office.
“The current government has moved away from the politics of flattery and glorification and has ushered in a new political culture,” Shibly said at a views-exchange meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tejgaon on Monday.
The meeting was organised to mark six months, or 180 days, since the government led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman assumed office.
Speaking about the government’s performance during the first six months, Shibly said governments generally use the first 100 days as a “honeymoon period”, but it normally takes at least six months for a government to implement its plans and produce initial results.
He said the Tarique Rahman government, however, began implementing its election manifesto immediately after taking office.
“Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s government has started implementing each point of the election manifesto one by one just after assuming office,” he said, claiming there had been no precedent for implementing pre-election pledges in such a systematic manner.
Shibly identified qualitative changes in the country’s political culture as another major achievement of the government.
Referring to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s remarks in Kishoreganj, Shibly said Bangladesh was moving towards becoming a welfare state where citizens have responsibilities towards the state and the state, in turn, has equal responsibilities towards its citizens.
“As far as possible, the state will stand beside people from every class and profession,” he said.
According to Shibly, the government’s approach is guided by the principle of “Bangladesh first, Bangladesh for all”, with the Prime Minister, his office and relevant institutions working towards that objective.
He cited the Prime Minister’s personal presence at the home of an army officer killed in Mirpur as an example of the government’s commitment to standing beside people who have suffered injustice and oppression.
Shibly also highlighted Tarique Rahman’s interaction with ordinary citizens as evidence of a different style of governance.
He recalled a recent incident when the Prime Minister was travelling by bus and noticed that roads had been kept unusually clear for his movement.
“Recently, while travelling by bus, he noticed that the roads had been kept excessively empty. He immediately instructed the concerned authorities to ensure that ordinary people do not face any inconvenience in their travel in the future,” Shibly said.
“A head of government moving around like an ordinary person and not considering himself separate from the people reflects a positive change in the new Bangladesh,” he added.
The meeting was chaired by Shibly and attended by senior ministers, advisers and officials of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Prime Minister’s Political Advisers Nazrul Islam Khan and Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, Public Administration Adviser Md Ismail Zabihullah, Information and Broadcasting Minister Zahir Uddin Swapon and Prime Minister’s Information and Broadcasting Adviser Dr Zahed Ur Rahman were present.
The ministers and advisers responded to questions from journalists on various issues concerning the government’s activities and its six-month performance.
State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mir Shahe Alam, State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Yasser Khan Choudhury, Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Humaiun Kobir and Prime Minister’s Health Affairs Special Assistant SM Ziauddin Hyder also attended.
Principal Coordinator for SDG Affairs at the PMO Professor Dr SM Abdul-Awal, Prime Minister’s Assistant (Political) Md Rashed Khan, Information and Broadcasting Secretary Mahbuba Farjana and Principal Information Officer Syed Abdal Ahmed were among the officials present.
Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists Secretary General Kader Gani Chowdhury, Dhaka Union of Journalists General Secretary Khurshid Alam, Bangladesh Journalists Welfare Trust Managing Director Mohammad Abdul Basir, Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Ruman, Prime Minister’s Speech Writer Mahfuzur Rahman, Deputy Press Secretaries Jahidul Islam Rony, Md Suzauddhowla and Shahadat Hossain Shadhin, and Assistant Press Secretaries Md Nazmul Haque Khan, Abdullah Al Mahmud Shahriar and Asrofa Emdad also attended the programme.